Vocational Psychology: Its Problems and Methods Part 10

In an unpublished study of the graduates of Pratt Inst.i.tute, Dr. D. E. Rice has compared the grades achieved by students in the courses in Mechanical Engineering and Electrical Engineering with the salaries the men were receiving several years after graduation. There were in all six cla.s.ses of men, numbering about forty each--three cla.s.ses from Mechanical Engineering and three from Electrical Engineering, for the years of 1907, 1908, 1909.

The salary reports were asked for in 1913, four to six years after graduation.

The men were ranked according to the grades they received in the eight different subjects included in the curriculum, the grades being 10, 9, 8, and 7, corresponding to the ordinary grade system of A, B, C, D. They were then ranked according to the salary reported at the time of the investigation. Results for each cla.s.s were treated separately so that the time elapsing since graduation was not a factor in the results. The following table gives the results when these two rankings were correlated by two statistical methods of computing correlation.

In every case the correlation between grades and salary is positive, although the coefficients are all small. This means that in the long run there is a general tendency for the good salaries to go to the men whose grades were high, but that there are many exceptions to the rule. Certainly in no cla.s.s is the opposite tendency shown, for the good salaries to go to the poor students. It is probable that the correlations found here are as low as they are partly because in this technical school there is no special effort made to encourage high grades for their own sake, the emphasis being rather on getting a good average rating.

TABLE 18

SHOWING THE CORRELATION BETWEEN SCHOOL STANDING AND SALARIES EARNED IN LATER LIFE (RICE)

See Text for Explanation

------------------------------------------------------------ Correlation by Correlation by Cla.s.s and Year Cases Pearson Method, Per Cent of Unlike and P.E. Signs, and P.E.

---------------+-------+----------------+------------------- Mechanical '07 35 .36 .08 .22 .09 Mechanical '08 41 .25 .09 .34 .08 Mechanical '09 39 .21 .09 .06 .10 Electrical '07 26 .16 .13 .25 .12 Electrical '08 36 .46 .08 .51 .08 Electrical '09 41 .16 .10 .28 .09 Averages .267 .277 ------------------------------------------------------------

Just what these degrees of correlation mean is made somewhat more apparent if we treat the data in another way. If instead of computing coefficients of correlation we divide each cla.s.s of men into four quartiles, and determine the average salaries of the men in these quartiles, we get very definite results. The upper quartile or group will now contain that fourth of the cla.s.s whose grades were highest. The second, third and fourth quartiles will in turn represent decreasing degrees of academic proficiency. If the average salaries are the same for all quartiles, this will mean that there is no relation between salary and school grades. But if the salary varies with the grades, this will be a significant result.

The actual data are as follows:

TABLE 19

RICE'S DATA PRESENTED IN A REVISED FORM

------------------------------------------------------------ Average Salaries of the Cla.s.s and Year Cases -------------------------------------- 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Quartile Quartile Quartile Quartile ---------------+-----+-----------------+--------+----------- Mechanical '07 35 $1800 $1675 $1362 $1387 Mechanical '08 41 1450 1512 1512 1275 Mechanical '09 39 1375 1262 1313 1137 Electrical '07 26 1750 1675 1675 1412 Electrical '08 36 2147 1437 1262 1262 Electrical '09 41 1462 1212 1387 1200 Averages $1664 $1462 $1418 $1279 Percentages 100% 87% 85% 76% ------------------------------------------------------------

If the separate cla.s.ses be now considered the results are seen to be more or less irregular, although the general tendency is apparent. If the average results from all six cla.s.ses are considered the results are more reliable as well as more uniform. The average salary varies in the same way as do the grades. If the average salary of the men of the first quartile ($1,664) be taken as a basis of comparison and considered one hundred per cent, then the salaries of the men in the second, third and fourth quartiles are respectively only eighty-seven, eighty-five and seventy-six per cent of this amount. In general terms, the salary of the men in the lower or poorest quarter of the cla.s.s, from the point of view of school grades, will be only three-fourths the salary of the men in the upper or best quarter. The two middle quartiles will differ but little from each other, although the second has the advantage, by two per cent, or $44, over the third quarter.

If the cla.s.s be divided into a better and a poorer half, then the average salary of the men in the upper half is seen to be $1,563, while that of the men in the lower half is only $1,348. The men in the upper half earn $215 more in a year than the men in the lower half. This way of expressing the results is both clearer and more concrete than the mere statement of the coefficient of correlation.

Interesting data on all three of these preceding questions are to be found in A. Lawrence Lowell's study of the academic careers of students in Harvard College, Law School and Medical School. This investigation included an examination into the college entrance examinations, the records attained during the college course, the subjects elected in this course, and the subsequent achievement of the men in the professional schools of law and medicine. The statistics cover the cases of all men who took the degree of A. B. at Harvard and then graduated from the two professional schools connected with Harvard. Only men who had taken at least three years of college work in residence were included. The records for the Law School cover the twenty years from 1891 to 1910. Those for the Medical School cover the sixteen years from 1895 forward.

The college gives degrees indicating four grades of distinction on the basis of scholarship. These are indicated as "plain," "c.u.m laude," "magna c.u.m laude" and "summa c.u.m laude." The two professional schools grant degrees with two grades of distinction, viz., "plain" and "c.u.m laude."

Lowell a.s.sumes that the grade attained on the college entrance examinations indicates with a certain degree of correctness the natural scholarly abilities of the student. The course of studies elected during college reflects roughly the general interests of the student at that time. The college records indicate his ability in the pursuit of those studies, including under ability such things as persistence, patience, fidelity, zeal, as well as native intelligence. The records in the professional schools are taken as indicating quite approximately the student's real ability to achieve success in the particular professional work of the technical sort.

All students are consequently cla.s.sified according to these various factors. The entrance examinations are divided into "clear" and "conditioned." The college degrees and the professional degrees are cla.s.sified on the basis of the degree of distinction awarded. All students are also cla.s.sified on the basis of their election of the four possible college courses: (a) literature and languages; (b) natural sciences; (c) history and political science; (d) philosophy and mathematics. The relations between these various cla.s.sifications are then presented, and a.n.a.lyzed in various ways.

Thus it is shown that there is very little or no relation between the college course elected and the probability of achieving a degree "c.u.m laude" in the professional schools. The figures are summed up in the following table:

TABLE 20

SHOWING RELATION BETWEEN COURSE ELECTED IN COLLEGE AND HONORS RECEIVED IN SUBSEQUENT YEARS IN PROFESSIONAL SCHOOLS (LOWELL)

--------------------------------------------------------- Degree in Law Degree in Medical School School Course Pursued -----------------+------------------ Plain "c.u.m Laude" Plain "c.u.m Laude"

--------------------+-----+-----------+-----+------------ Lit. and Lang. 801 180 (18.4%) 145 166 (53.4%) Nat. Science 19 3 (13.6%) 75 81 (51.9%) Hist. and Pol. Sci. 627 129 (17.1%) 30 20 (44.4%) Phil. and Math 8 11 (57.9%) 6 7 (53.8%) ---------------------------------------------------------

The figures suggest that "as a preparation for the study of law or medicine it makes comparatively little difference what subject is mainly pursued in college." That is to say, college interests in natural sciences, as indicated by the election of that course, does not indicate special apt.i.tude for the work of medicine; nor does the election of courses in history and political science indicate a necessary superiority in the more or less related work of law. Lowell shows that only during the first year or so of the medical school do those who have already specialized in natural sciences have any advantage over those medical students who have specialized in other subjects.

What is the relation between the men's records in college and their achievement in the professional schools? In the following table are given the number of college men of each degree of distinction who were awarded "c.u.m laude" in the professional schools:

TABLE 21

SHOWING RELATION BETWEEN COLLEGE HONORS AND HONORS IN THE PROFESSIONAL SCHOOLS (LOWELL)

----------------------------------------------- Record in College Number Awarded "c.u.m Laude"

in Law --------------------+-------------------------- 609 Plain Degree 40 6.6% 305 c.u.m Laude 68 22.3% 200 Magna c.u.m Laude 80 40.0% 33 Summa c.u.m Laude 20 60.0% --------------------+-------------------------- Record in College Number Awarded "c.u.m Laude"

in Medicine --------------------+-------------------------- 239 Plain 86 36.0% 85 c.u.m Laude 65 76.5% 39 Magna c.u.m Laude 34 87.2% 2 Summa c.u.m Laude 2 100.0% -----------------------------------------------

It is apparent at once that there is a close relation between the college records and the records in the professional schools. Both in law and in medicine those who are awarded honors tend largely to be those who were awarded honors in college. And the higher the college honors, the greater the percentage of men receiving honors in the professional schools.

We may now ask how far back in the academic careers of these men it is possible to predict their probable achievement in the professional schools. Have those who are awarded the professional honors already distinguished themselves from their fellows at the time of their entrance into college? The following summary of the results presented by Lowell in much more detail will help answer this question:

TABLE 22

SHOWING RELATIONS BETWEEN VARIOUS ACADEMIC RECORDS (LOWELL)

Men Graduating from the Law School and Receiving "c.u.m Laude" in Law

Per cent ------------------------------------------------------------ Entered college "clear" 26.4 Entered college "conditioned" 9.0 Graduated from college with distinction 31.2 Graduated from college without distinction 6.5 Entrance clear and college distinction 37.9 Entrance conditioned and college with distinction 18.1 Entrance clear and college without distinction 11.1 Entrance conditioned and college without distinction 2.9 ------------------------------------------------------------

Men Graduating from the Medical School and Receiving "c.u.m Laude" in Medicine

Per cent ------------------------------------------------------------ Entered college "clear" 59.1 Entered college "conditioned" 43.0 Graduated from college with distinction 80.1 Graduated from college without distinction 36.0 Entrance clear and college distinction 78.1 Entrance conditioned and college distinction 84.6 Entrance clear and college without distinction 42.4 Entrance conditioned and college without distinction 31.4 ------------------------------------------------------------

Here the result is clearly suggested that early merit in academic work means success in the professional schools, whether one considers entrance examinations or college records. And the most probable group for professional honors is made up of those men who combined both entrance and college distinction. This is especially striking in the case of the law school. In the case of the medical school the differences are not quite so great, although the general tendency is quite the same. This is said to be due to the lower standard required for medical honors during these years.

Lowell concludes: "The men who are destined to take the highest rank in the law and medical schools are markedly better scholars, both in the preparatory schools and in college, than their fellows. In intellectual power, as in other things, the boy is father to the man."

On the whole, then, all these studies point in a consistent direction; those who are destined to achieve distinction and success begin to do so at an early age. Whether measured by achievement in academic courses, honors in professional and technical courses, salary earned after graduation, or inclusion among lists and directories of eminent men, success in later life is suggested by success in the early work of the school curriculum. In spite of frequent comments to the contrary, the school curriculum would seem to const.i.tute a useful test in prognosticating at least the most probable quality of the individual's later work.

But our original three questions are at present answered with very unequal reliability. With respect to the relation between early success or failure in elementary school subjects and success or failure in handling more advanced subject matter, the evidence is clear and definite.

On the question as to the permanence of interests and the relation between interest and ability, the evidence is far from adequate for vocational purposes. While the conclusion suggested is positive in Thorndike's study, the investigator recognizes that the results require confirmation or refutation at the hands of more reliable and verifiable information. It has appeared fairly certain that interest, as reflected in choice of college subjects, bears no relation to ability to undertake the work of at least two definite branches of professional training.

On the third question, concerning the relation between general or particular academic apt.i.tude or inclination and general or particular proficiency in later domestic, industrial, commercial, professional or civic activities, the data, although consistent, are far from complete.

Here, then, as in so many other aspects of vocational psychology, we find an inviting field of research and an abundance of interesting problems.

FOOTNOTES:

[13] _Educational Review_, September, 1914.

CHAPTER IX